Tambaku / Tobacco Plant
Nicotiana tabacum
Also known as American Tobacco, Virginia Tobacco
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- August-May
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Nicotiana tabacum
- Genus
- Nicotiana
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Native to
- Tropical America
- Distribution
- Cultivated in tropics
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Sikkim, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh
- Flowering & fruiting
- August-May
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Solanaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Pinkrecorded
- Flower arrangement
- PaniclerecordedA branching cluster of clusters.“The scented inflorescences are multi-branched panicles.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“The fruit is a 1.5 to 2 cm (9⁄16 to 13⁄16 in) long capsule that is narrowly elliptical-to-egg-shaped.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Cyme
- Fruit
- Berry
Characters marked “recorded” are for Tambaku itself; the rest are typical of the Solanaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- तम्बाकू Tambaku
- Bengali
- তামাক
- Telugu
- పొగాకు
- Malayalam
- പുകയില
- Marathi
- तंबाखू Tambakhoo
About Tambaku
Tobacco Plant (Nicotiana tabacum) belongs to the Solanaceae family, where it grows as a low shrub. In India it has been recorded in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and 12 other states. Flowering and fruiting run from August to May.
Uses
It is grown for parts that are eaten, long used in traditional medicine and planted as an ornamental. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice. Parts of this plant are reported as poisonous — treat it as unsafe to eat and wash your hands after handling.
In culture
It carries a body of folklore around it.
Solanaceae
Nightshade/Tomato family
Tambaku belongs to the Solanaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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